Being a chronicle of my experiences in the murky world of "old school" roleplaying, wargaming
and Miniature Painting. Likely to feature games of Dungeons and Dragons, Tomorrow's War, OSRIC,
Harnmaster, Warhammer Ancients, Retinue and All Things Zombie.

Saturday, 30 April 2011

Apanthi. The Lost World. In Urdu the name means: "Wrong Road". Soaring through space without stellar companions of any kind. Once a world not unlike earth, Apanthi is now a ball of frozen gas hurtling alone through space. Alone- but not uninhabited.

GAME TERMS:

Atmosphere:No breathable air or gasses of any kind. Once an inhabitable terrestrial-type world, in the milennia since it escaped the gravitational pull of it's star, all gasses have frozen solid. Consequently, the surface of Apanthi is coated by snow-like layers of various frozen gasses.

Temperature Range: Very very cold - as close to absolute zero is as likely to be found in nature. Light given off by distant stars combined with a tiny glimmer of life that remains in what was once the planetary core are the only natural sources of heat on this dead vagabond world.

Biosphere: None. No life exists permanently on the surface of Apanthi. Gas mining families in the employ of CalCol Corporation exist in temporary residences carved from the frozen gasses that coat the worlds surface, but these habitations are rarely occupied for more than a few weeks at a time.

Perhaps surprisingly, although a void suit is vital for survival, air supply is hardly a problem. When air stocks run low, it's a simple enough matter to dig down through the "snow" to the oxygen layer. A few scoops of frozen air shoved into the internally heated compartments of a specially modified "Apanthi Vacc Suit" will keep a grown adult alive and working hard for some considerable time.

Population and Tech Level:

As many as ten thousand people live a transitory existence between the surface of Apanthi and Tarri Penu, an orbital space station named after a Cythonic goddess placated by human sacrifice. All but a few hundred of these are miners descended from the original indentured workers brought to Apanthi by Calcutta Colonial Interests Inc some fifty years ago when the world was first settled. The original term of service was some seven years but, following the Great Calamity, indenture is now for life. While previously workers strove to earn enough pay pay to prchase transport and a home-stead on another world, now workers strive to earn enough money to pay for spare-parts, life-support and a brief stay on Tarri Penu. At least until their funds run out and they must return to the planet to earn more.

No more than a thousand such miners are allowed to join the Corporate "elites" - pilots, managers, accountants, engineers and so forth- on the space station at any given time. Stays of more than a few days within the stations artificial gravity field (provided by rotation rings) are rare for the miners and their families. Too brief to maintain muscle tissue at the standards required to operate normally at standard G. Thus ensuring that the miners who occupy berths on the station at any given time are too physically weak to cause much trouble for the corporate security and making any possibility of an eventual overthrow of this virtual slave-society extremely remote indeed.

The surviving tech level, both among the miners and the elite themselves, is remarkably high. As one of the main sources of cheap gasses in the sector, Apanthi (or rather, Tarri Penu) traffic control manages a great deal of traffic in the form of independant traders, CalCol ships and even military vessels from nearby systems. CalCol security takes great care to chase away 'claim jumpers" (referring to both freelance mining operations and slavers come to poach rather than sell), people-smugglers and vessels which openly practice piracy nearby, maintaining a small fleet of system cutters, frigates and corvettes to patrol nearby space around the system (always being careful to remain close to the planets weak gravity well).

Culture:

The majority of the CalCol elite (including it's security forces) are of high-caste Indian origin and belong to Hindu families. The worker population is extremely mixed both ethnically and religiously. Most of the original miners were males of Indian extraction, yet after the Great Calamity when it became apparent that the Miner population would have to become self-sustaining, a large number of (mostly female) workers were "procured" from various shady sources in order to replace miners lost through (understandably quite high) natural "wastage'. Which, of course, in this context, refers to death in the line of duty.

As a result of what the CalCol elite refer to as this "cultural contamination" the miner population has become even more contemptible in their eyes. Almost as many miners now die while aboard Tarri Penu (executed for even miner misdemeanours) as die on the surface from exploding gasses and the like. So much so that many miners now feel that staying longer "on world" before returning to the station is preferable to spending more time there.

The CalCol elite exist in considerable -almost paranoid- fear of their miners, which in part accounts for the sheer brutality of their rule. They are terrified about the prospect of sabotage, given that their own station (and therefore they themselves) are so literally reliant on trade for survival. However, what they fail to appreciate is that the miners themselves cannot afford to cut their own throats by sabotaging their own production efforts let alone by conducting grand sabotage against the station itself. No, what the CalCol elite fail to appreciate is that they should be more concerned with is the very real threat of revolution. Recent "acquisitions' of mining personnel have not been screened as carefully as they would like to believe.

The mining population now includes a small but significant core of recent arrivals (whose physical prowess have yet to deteriorate overmuch from Apanthi's pathetic gravity) with scientific, engineering and even military backgrounds - and not one has anything to lose except their lives.

The Sky from Kut:

Other than a tiny and relatively bright spec in the night sky that orbits the world every thirteen hours, (Terri Panu itself) there is nothing to be seen save the distant light of stars. On Apanthi there is no dawn, no star-light and no moon. Only the ever present, threatening void of space above ones head.

Outside Relations:
Although the miners are intentionally kept ignorant of just who comes and goes above their heads, ships arrive hourly from all over the sector to offload vital imports and even luxury items in return for stocks of frozen water, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, methane and -vital for space travel- the chlorine, fluorine, hydrogen and other gasses necessary for modern interplanetary (but not FTL) spaceflight.

Travel Advisory:
Due to the extremely high number of violent incidents reported daily in the miner-restricted residential pleasure and residential areas of Tarri Pen, travellers are advised to refrain from entering these areas. There have been occasional reports of crewmen and traders from visiting ships being abducted by slavers for re-sale as miners in recent months. Travelling alone or when inebriated or in the company of strangers is not recommended. CalCol security operatives are know to be brutal and swift in the application of violence against trouble-makers -many of whom find themselves sentenced to the mines below. Discretion is advised.

Tuesday, 26 April 2011

Here it is, the first article in my new Cascade Failure sandbox series. You'll note that I'm producing entries for individual systems long before I've even designed the sector map. Don't worry, it's deliberate. I'll be able to start constructing the map once I have an idea of how various systems relate to one another - politically, economically, militarily, etc.

Star and planetary information obtained from Star Gen and thereafter modified. The entry on the settled moon of Kut that preceeds it is all me.

More importantly (for me at least) this is my last ever blog article as a single man. As of the 28th, I'll no longer be able to call myself a bachelor. That same day, the lass I've been calling my missus for the last four years really does get to become my missus.

Temperature Range: Temperate. Somewhat colder than that found on earth at equivalent latitudes and elevation.

Biosphere: Chemical and Biological weapon releases into the upper atmosphere during the Great Calamity devestated the imported Terran biosphere. Only limited numbers of sealed biosphere facilities survived the war.Atmospheric pressure is somewhat low. Visitors are advised to wear breathing apparatus until fully acclimitised.

Human survivors have begun to repopulate the biosphere outside these facilities, but occasional construction has on occasion released fresh stores of weaponized bacterial spores into the atmosphere. Limited progress has been made towards developing new plant and animal strains resistant to these toxins although a human vaccination has been developed. Thus the remaining biosphere is very fragile. Ecological diversity remains very limited even inside controlled, sealed-environment conditions.

Surviving animal species are limited to Humans, Dogs, Cats, Goats, Rats and Cattle. Remaining plant species include several types of cereal, wheat, hops, turnips, carrots, beat-root, onions, peppers, grasses, flowering plants and apples. Some terrestrial insect life is also extant.

Population and Tech Level:

As little as 5% of the planetary population survived the Great Calamity, the majority of whom were either military or civic government personnel housed in bunkers or else agricultural scientists and farmers operating out of sealed biospheric environments.

Several hundred small farms and research facilities are scattered across the planet, clustered on the long, equatorial continent of “Myr”. The combined efforts of these facilities continue to feed and clothe the inhabitants of the three main “bunker cities” of Muscat, Abu Dhabi and Tehran. Each bunker city houses approximately 3000 inhabitants. The local farming and research sites provide the bunker cities with food and fresh water and, in return, are provided with manufactured goods and atmosphere scrubbers produced in the re-tooled bunker recycling centres using freshly mined minerals from the expanding corridors.

Hi-Tech items such as computers and modern weapons require difficult, expensive to produce components and are rare outside the cities. Perhaps the populations greatest asset is it's retention of a hi-tech skill base. Although the planetary populations grip on survival is tenuous at best, it is able to produce a small surplus of food and manufactured goods for trade with passing ships at the Tehran space-terminus.

As the only surviving bunker facility with space-port facilities, Tehran remains the “senior partner” of the three. Despite some recent tensions over trade tariffs, the three cities (though ruled by separate military junta's advised by Shi'a religious leaders) exist in a state of peaceful co-operation, despite frequent military posturing by all party's.

Note that none of the three bunker cities have anything approaching inter-planetary flight capability. A few hover-cars and air-cars remain functional, but that is all. The moon is completely dependant on foreign vessels for interplanetary trade but, due to the small amounts of surplus materials available, rarely receives more than one or two visits a year from traders.

Culture:

Settled by a consortium of Shi'a families from the Arabian Peninsular, faith remains a strong cultural bond between the three bunker-cities, who would otherwise be natural competitors. Though previously ruled in accordance with a corporate model, since the Great Calamity the former Myr corporation's security branch took control of each respective bunker. The three surviving cities each maintained a complete comm's black for several years, explaining why these three facilities survived the war where more than a dozen others did not. Contact between all three bunkers was finally established some 22 years ago. Each city has been ruled by it's own military (or "Public Safety") council since the years of silence. The three councils each send a single representative to sit in the ruins of the old Colony Capitol building (the Al Jalali) for six weeks at the beginning of every year, to discuss matters of common interest.

Gulf Arabic is the only language spoken with any frequency. Several settlers (particularly those who work at the space port) are fairly fluent in either English or Mandorin, but their numbers are few. They are reluctant to teach these languages to outsiders or even to other locals. This ensures that a handful of individuals retain a virtual monoploy on off-world trade.

The Sky from Kut:

At any given time either the Gas Giant (primary day) or the distant sun (night) or several moons (twilight) are visible in the sky of Kut. With more than fifteen other moons orbiting the gas giant however, reflective light is persistent. Even during the “night” cycle, light levels rarely fall below what would be considered twilight on earth.

Outside Relations:
Kut is an isolated world on the fringes of known human space. Other than the infrequent arrival of a few trade vessels from nearby worlds and supply ships from the S.S Ascendant Aurora, it has had no off-world contact of note since the Great Calamity.

Travel Advisory:
Due to the extreme number of moons and the influence of the gas giant itself, sea travel (or indeed, travel in coastal areas) is to be avoided. Tidal activity is unpredictable at best and suge tides of up to a kilometre in height are not unknown in some coastal areas. Finally, those who insist on sea-travel should be advised that the waterways remain full of biological sludge and waste from the Great Calamity. Engine failure on surface vessles due to clogged intakes is a common hazard.

Monday, 25 April 2011

Cascade Failure: the new OSR sci-fi beta from Greg Christopher of Dark Horse Games (downloadable FREEhere). Now at the top of my “to play” list and well worth a look. While the current release is merely the first “beta' version and has a long way to go before becoming a fully rounded, finished product, it already promises to become a real gem of a sci-fi game.

The first factor that sets this game apart from it's competitors is it phenomenal and highly evocative artwork, which easily captures the sense of a post-collapse high-tech society on the brink of utter catastrophe. While the artwork alone is reason enough to give this game a look, and sets a high bar indeed for expectations of quality, the rules system itself more than lives up to the promise of the artwork.

Character creation follows the standard D&D format, but with a wider range of classes available than normally appear in OSR D&D science-fiction adaptations: that is, beyond the usual tech, solider and psychic class options. With eight classes to choose from (including a variety of tech and combat specialists and two psychic classes) each with their own distinct class abilities and team niches, ample options exist to differentiate one character from another. This diversity of choice is further supported by the ability to acquire 'Gifts' for your character as they progress in level (one of the few 3rd ed D&D developments that I ever actually rather liked). Thereby ensuring that no two soldiers, outlaws or slicers need ever be mechanically the same.

Racial options are also attractive, with some of the best (and simplest) rules depicting A.I (“Droid”) characters that I have seen in recent years. The Alien species presented as PC races in the beta are also excellent, featuring outstanding racial descriptions and traits that (for the most-part) will help players portray a true alien psychology as opposed to the all too common “man in a rubber suit syndrome”. No “space-elves” or 'space-dwarfs' for us here, though one or two races have similar elements of psychology or culture in their make-up.

Like many D&D clones Cascade Failure includes an alignment system, but one less restrictive than that found in many systems. Combat, on the other hand, uses an ascending AC system designed to represent how difficult it is to injure a target rather than to actually hit it. The injury system is an elegant and surprisingly obvious way of balancing the traditional acquisition of more hit points per level with the deadliness of science-fiction weapons. As with the old D20 Star Wars system (which Cascade Failure improves upon) hit points do not represent how much injury a person can withstand but rather how good they are at dodging out the way. Hit Point damage reflects a combination of near misses with bruises, aches and physical fatigue acquired from close calls and throwing ones-self about the place to avoid been hit. As any modern soldier will tell you, it's more difficult to score an effective hit on an experienced opponent in ranged (or for that matter, melee combat) because they make better use of cover and are generally more willing to inflict bruises and minor injuries on themselves by diving onto rubble and throwing themselves about the place than a novice is.

Where Cascade Failure improves upon the old Star Wars injury system is that, rather than losing 'wound points' after reaching zero hit points, in Cascade Failure you begin to take ability damage. This reflects the character taking a serious wound (or wounds) that would normally put him out of action. This temporary ability damage can be recovered with successful medical treatment, but a time window exists beyond which medical treatment would prove ineffective and the ability loss becomes permanent. Droids take damage in the same way as organic characters except that the ability damage is never permanent and can always be repaired when sufficient spare parts are available.

Like any beta, the existing version of cascade failure does have it's flaws. There are the usual handful of rules omissions that slip through proofreading that can be fixed with the application of house rules or a little common sense until the next version is released (or until they are officially errata'd). Likewise, the present vehicle and starship rules are sparse to the point of being non-existent (I'll be using the ones from Stars Without Number until the ones for Cascade Failure and properly developed).

The (optional) setting material provided, is first rate,with a number of intriguing factions and alien races provided. The default setting (of which the artwork is highly evocative) is of a post-collapse hi-tech society with a failed economy and a growing scarcity of resources ranging from population-base to hi-tech skills and materials. However, while the rules system supports this setting extremely well, the rules themselves are highly adaptable. I was immediately struck by how easily the rules could be applied to such diverse campaign settings as the Firefly, Babylon 5, Star Wars, Aliens, Mass Effect and even Terminator universes. Or any other setting (home-brew or otherwise) for that matter.

If the beta is anything to go by (and believe me when I tell you that it is) then the full version of Cascade Failure is set to be an absolute gem of a rules system. I already intend to start a new game using it (I'm already working on a sector-scale sandbox and background storyline) and that is the highest complement for a rules system I know. True, there are gaps in the present rule-set, some glaringly obvious ones even (such as the aforementioned virtual absence of starship/vehicle combat rules). But, even with-out the presence of working vehicle rules, there's enough rules material and setting information contained within this 88 page beta to make for a very exiting, very enjoyable and, indeed, very playable sci-fi retroclone. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am by this product.

Look out for an actual-play report and some sand-box articles soon.

Dangerous Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Note: The Artwork used in this review was been donated to Dark Horse Games by the respective Artists for use in the Public Beta. The art has been reproduced here without permission.

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A Quick Word on Images Used in this Blog

I do not hold copyright on most of the images used in this site. However all images of painted miniatures on display are be my own work unless indicated otherwise. I am presently using artwork from around the web, mostly from public sources or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will properly credit your work or remove your image(s) in accordance with your expressed wishes.